


You Didn't Have To Try So Hard (To Get Me To Kiss You)

by Redezzy



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Christmas, F/F, Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:40:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21939124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redezzy/pseuds/Redezzy
Summary: It's Christmas time at the Salvatore School, complete with Josie being merry and Hope watching from afar, not to mention them both hopelessly pining for one another.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 9
Kudos: 185





	You Didn't Have To Try So Hard (To Get Me To Kiss You)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!
> 
> Thank you to the people that helped with this, especially my wonderful beta.
> 
> Recommended Listening While Reading:  
> Carol Of The Bells by George Winston

Josie leaned up on her tip toes and stretched to hang up a strand of lights. She reached up and hooked another on her wall as she quietly sang, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas.”

She moved into the next verse as her heels hit the wooden floor again, “Make the yuletide gay.” Josie smiled at that part. As a kid, she had always thought that it meant gay, and not happy. Now, as a teenager, she always liked to think it meant gay, and not happy. 

As she leaned forward on her feet to reach up and hang another row of lights, she continued to sing, oblivious to the fact that Hope had planted herself in the doorway. 

Enjoying the solo, Hope leaned against the door frame and watched as Josie moved her head and softly sang a Christmas carol.

She sighed and knew that it was rude to watch without making her presence known. So, she relented and rapped her knuckles against the door frame that her body was still occupying.

Josie immediately stopped singing and spun around, chuckling nervously when she saw Hope. In spite of herself, she exclaimed, “Hope!”

At the sound of her name, the auburn haired girl pushed herself off of the door frame after asking, “May I come in?” 

The brunette smiled and nodded, still somewhat embarrassed from her singing. She wondered how long Hope had been there. Had she been there for her rendition of Feliz Navidad? God, she hoped not. She always got a little bit too much into that one.

Hope stepped past the threshold and entered into the room. She looked around and saw that Josie had been decorating, _decorating_ -decorating. She had always known that the girl loved Christmas, Josie always said that it was the best time of the year, no matter how cliche that was, but the decorations went far past the lights complementing the walls.

She wondered if she had done this all on her own. Lizzie was nowhere in sight, and it was afternoon. Josie could have accomplished this impressive feat by herself by now. 

“It looks great in here,” Hope strolled to a wall and touched her finger to an unlit light, mesmerized. The lights always had been her favorite part. She pulled her index finger back and added, “You know, you don’t have to stop on my behalf. You sound great.”

Josie blushed. She wasn’t used to getting compliments about her singing. Or, really, any compliments at all. But, her singing was something that she usually kept to herself, and she definitely never meant for Hope to hear it.

If there was one thing she didn’t need this Christmas, it was to be embarrassed in front of her.

She managed to stutter out a _thank you_ before diverting her attention elsewhere from the girl standing in front of her.

Hope only hummed in response and started circling the room to look at all of the decorations. If she knew Josie, and she did, every decoration in here would have a story behind it. Especially every ornament on the little tree in the corner.

That was just Josie’s style, sentimental. Hope had always admired that quality in her. The older girl didn’t really have a choice but to be sentimental. If she wasn’t sentimental, she had nothing. So, every ornament on the little tree in her room had a story too. Not that she would ever tell anyone that.

It was only recently that Hope had started celebrating Christmas again. It was still hard though, knowing that she would be stuck at the Salvatore School over winter break. Usually, she would just hole up in her room with hot chocolate and a stack of god awful, mind numbing Hallmark movies on repeat. Another thing that she would never tell anyone was the fact that she loved those god awful, mind numbing Hallmark movies.

After watching Hope take a lap around her room and arrive back in the same spot she had been in earlier, Josie spoke up and asked the question that finally occurred to her, “What are you doing here, Hope?”

Before she could touch another unlit light, she was jolted from the Christmas trance. “Oh! Right, sorry,” she chuckled, “I was just coming to say that they’re serving hot chocolate in the common room.”

She knew that Josie loved hot chocolate. Watching Josie’s eyes light up was worth the trip, but she added, “And I came to remind you that Secret Santa is going to start soon.”

Her eyes instinctively went for the gift sitting under her desk. “Thanks for the reminder, and for the tip about the hot cocoa. I love hot chocolate.”

Hope resisted the urge to say, “I know you do,” and opted for what she thought would be a better option, “Want to go get some with me?”

She said it so nonchalantly that Josie didn’t even hear the little lilt in her voice at the end. In an equally nonchalant voice, or at least she hoped an equal one, Josie responded, “I would love to.” 

Instead of going to join Hope at the door, Josie spun on her heel and said, “But, first!” She then reached up to hang the final strand of lights.

Hope watched her land back down on the balls of her feet and, with a spring in her step, go to the light socket and plug in the lights. 

The wall lit up before Hope’s eyes, and her mouth fell open slightly. They were beautiful, and she was very impressed with the simple but amazing design. She couldn’t help but say, “Wow.”

Josie took that as another compliment, and thanked her. Then she was ready to join Hope at the door and walk out, pulling it to with one last look at the lights.

On the walk to the common room for the promise of hot chocolate, Josie created light conversation, choosing the topic of Secret Santa to ask, “So, who did you get?”

Hope only laughed casually and said, “That’s the secret part.”

Seeing the pout that took hold of the other girl's lips, Hope desperately wanted to answer that question. But, she couldn’t tell her that she got her. That would ruin all the fun. And, besides, she was going to find out in an hour anyways.

Hope had spent so much time trying to find the perfect gift, debating over ideas and driving herself mad with the little details. This was more than just a gift, it was a statement. This was something that could help her prove herself, help her prove just how well she knew Josie, just how much she cared.

She only wished that she had finally found the perfect gift. The closer they got to the gift exchange, the more nervous she got. In her head, she was still thinking about the carefully wrapped package tucked just beneath her bed, wondering if it was good enough. Nothing would ever be good enough for Josie, though, and she didn’t have time to get another one anyway.

Shaking off the thoughts that managed to rise back up to the forefront of her mind, she escorted the girl with the pout to the hot chocolate table. Hope laughed and handed her a cup, “Jo, you’re going to find out soon anyways.”

Josie took the cup from Hope and held it between both of her hands, drinking in the warmth and blowing softly on the top of the steaming liquid, not being able to hold the pout any longer for leverage over Hope.

Hope grabbed her own cup and tapped it against Josie’s, “Cheers.” She smiled as she watched her take a sip and her pout dissipate.

Pulling the girl to stand in front of the fireplace so they wouldn’t block traffic, their hands brushed, and, suddenly, the hot chocolate wasn’t the reason Josie’s hands were warm anymore.

But Hope didn’t seem to notice, the touch nor the sensation. And maybe the younger girl was thankful for that.

They stood next to the fire and finished their hot chocolate, depositing the empty styrofoam cups in a nearby trash can. The two girls stood in the middle of the hallway and looked at the time, “Secret Santa starts in fifteen minutes,” Hope contributed.

“Yeah, I need to go grab my gift.”

“Me too.”

Neither girl made a move to leave first though. Josie also knew that she needed to get ready. After the Secret Santa gift exchange and reveal was the Christmas Eve dinner in the dining hall. 

Which is why Josie made the painful first step, saying, “I need to get ready too. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

Her second step was when Hope called after her, “Yeah, see you in a few minutes.” She cursed herself for that awkward response. In all reality, she needed to get ready too. However, for Hope, that didn’t constitute a lot of change.

So, instead, she watched Josie walk away before turning and going to her room, letting herself in, and kneeling down in front of her bed to stick her hand under and pull out a pristenly wrapped gift.

She held the weight of it in her hands and turned it over once or twice. In scrawling handwriting, the name _Josie_ was written across the whole of the front. Hope sighed and tried to push away the thoughts and anxieties bouncing around in her head.

Wanting to get Josie’s gift under the tree before she got there, so she wouldn’t see that Hope was her Secret Santa before the big reveal, she forced herself to get up and straighten her clothes in the mirror before closing the door behind her and hurrying down the hallway after checking the clock.

Lizzie walked up close to her as she came in, murmuring, "This better be good, Mikaelson."

The girl knew exactly what she was talking about, the blonde had made sure Hope got Josie's name for Secret Santa.

Lizzie had looked at Hope after everyone had drawn names and said, "You're welcome."

She had been staring at the slip of paper held between her fingers, lost in thought. "What?"

"Josie. It's time for you to shoot your shot. I'm tired of watching your puppy dog eyes trail behind her." 

She had eyed the rest of the crowd, making sure no one was listening. It wasn't like it was a huge secret, though. But she also knew how Hope didn't want anyone to know, so she tried her best to keep it on the down low.

"But how did you-"

Her sentence was finished for her, "Rig it? You seem to be forgetting that I'm a witch."

Hope nodded slowly and furrowed her brow. Now she had to find the perfect gift. No pressure or anything.

"You're on your own for the gift, though. Time to see what you're made of, Mikaelson." She smirked. This was fun for her.

Hope, however, was suddenly very nervous. Mind going a mile a minute, she was terrified that her shot would miss.

She guessed that her time had come, as she would find out the answer soon. Smiling tightly at Lizzie, she hurried past her to put the package down. 

Hope had just slipped the gift under the tree and stood up as Josie walked in and placed her gift under the tree as well, making a move to stand next to Hope.

After everyone else had joined them, Lizzie, Landon, and MG, they all sat down on the couches next to the tree, Hope next to Josie on one, MG on another, while Lizzie stood and Landon sat on the table.

Kaleb was home with his "crazy family" for the holidays, his words. And Rafael had opted to skip Secret Santa, it wasn't really his thing, he was notorious for giving horrible gifts so he wanted to spare the group collective from that.

Lizzie directed the event. After all, it had been her idea. She spoke up, “Okay, who’s first?”

Wanting to help her twin out, Josie spoke up, “Um, I can go.”

“Perfect, Jo, thank you.”

The brunette twin stood and walked to the tree, bending and looking for a second, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. She knelt and pulled out a wrapped rectangle, walking to hand it to MG.

MG tore into it like, well, like a kid on Christmas morning. Bits of ripped wrapping paper ended up on the floor as he pulled out a book titled, “Feminism Is For Everybody: Passionate Politics.” He flipped it over and read the back before beaming up at Josie, “Thanks, Jo.”

Josie loved watching other people open the gifts she got them. She enjoyed it more than opening her own gifts, it was just something about the way their faces lit up and she got the confirmation that she had done a good job.

She beamed back and said, “You’re welcome, MG.”

He looked at it for a second more before setting it down carefully in its remaining wrapping paper and standing, knowing the drill. MG bounced to the Christmas tree and pulled out a plate piled high with brownies resting inside of a sheet of protective, decorative see-through wrap.

Holding the gift, he turned slightly and handed them to Lizzie with a giant, goofy grin on his face. His expression was one of innocence, he only wanted to make her smile.

And he did. Lizzie beamed and took the plate of her favorite dessert, flipping over the card attached and reading the beginning notes of a recipe. She held the tag between her fingers and looked at MG with a confused expression.

He could read it on her face, he knew her expressions, so he answered the question she didn’t have to ask, “I made those myself, and it’s a family recipe. So, I’m giving you the recipe so you can make them too.”

She was shocked, and still kind of confused. MG rarely talked about his family, save from around the holidays, but she knew that they used to cook together, so receiving this recipe was an honor. Lizzie was surprised that he trusted her with it.

There was only one problem, and she voiced it, “But, MG, I can’t cook.”

He knew this, and he had been waiting for that exact statement. His planned answer was the other half of his present to her. “That is why I’m going to teach you.”

Lizzie was silent again, shocked once more. She didn’t know how to thank him, this was one of the most thoughtful gifts she had ever been given.

The rest of the group was silent too, watching MG shoot his shot, and, by the looks of it, making it. Josie only snickered to Hope, “I don’t think he knows what he’s getting himself into.”

When Lizzie said that she couldn’t cook, she meant it. But, MG and his huge heart was going to try his best. Josie knew how patient he was going to be with her, how patient he always was. She knew that no matter how horrible Lizzie did, MG was still going to be euphoric after.

The two hadn’t broken eye contact for a moment, and Landon had to clear his throat to remind Lizzie of her next job.

She set her brownies, and the promise of cooking lessons, down next to MG’s book and broke eye contact with the boy. She walked to the tree and pulled out her gift.

She trudged to Landon and thrust the gift towards him, saying, “Here you go, hobbit.”

Landon took it and thanked her before opening it. He tore through the wrapping and pulled out a fancy hardback, reading off the title as, “The Complete Works of HP Lovecraft: Collectible Edition.” He held it in his hands as his brain went through the works, loving his gift. He thanked her again with a childlike smirk on his face.

She smiled and gave a polite, “You’re welcome.”

Josie tilted her head to the side and studied the cover, knowing that she had seen Lizzie stay up late for the past week to devour it every night. Josie also knew that Lizzie had ordered it as soon as she had known that she was buying for Landon, giving herself just enough time to read it before she gave it to him. Not that Josie would ever divulge her twin’s deepest, darkest secret.

Landon set his book down and rose, going to the tree and picking up a medium sized gift from behind the tree. He hefted it and set it down at Hope’s feet with an earnest look in his eyes.

She gave him a suspicious and confused look before bending down and unwrapping a set of canvases and a pack of new paint brushes. They were just the kind she used too. Hope guessed he remembered that from when they were dating.

It was really sweet that he remembered, and that he had gotten her this. She smiled up at him and genuinely thanked him. 

He seemed satisfied with that, as he smiled once more and sat back down on the coffee table.

Lizzie looked around and under the tree, “It seems like there’s only one more person left.” 

It was as she said this that the pieces clicked into place for Josie. Hope was her Secret Santa. That’s why she would never tell her who she got. That’s why she had been cagey with present details. 

Suddenly everything made a little bit more sense. And, also suddenly, Josie was nervous to see what was inside. What if she didn’t react right? How would Hope feel?

As much as Josie loved watching other people open her gifts, she hated opening gifts in front of people. She was just always so afraid that she wasn’t going to react right, and she hated having all of the attention on her.

But, all of the attention was on her now. Hope smiled sheepishly at her and stood, running her hands on her jeans as she did so. She went to the tree and pulled out the final gift from beneath it, leaving the tree skirt bare.

In a movie, this would be when it got silent as everyone knew that this was the final gift of Christmas. This was just the final gift for Secret Santa, though. And yet it was still silent.

With shaking hands, she made the motion to outstretch her arm and give Josie her gift. Time seemed to slow from the second that the present left Hope’s hand and entered into Josie’s. 

It was even slower as she took the time to admire how well Hope wrote her name. Of course she did, though, it was just like Josie to notice something like that. 

After that, she plucked her way through pieces of tape and slid a leather bound book out of the red, shiny wrapping paper. The pages were blank, and that was when she realized that it was a journal.

She couldn’t help her reaction, confused but grateful; and Hope couldn’t help her own either, worried but wishful.

Josie looked up at her with a look in her eyes, a look that showed Hope that the gears inside her head were turning and she was trying to figure out why she would get her this.

But she didn’t want to fill in the blanks here, in front of everyone else, so she just smiled and sat back down next to her, knowing that Josie didn’t get it and feeling like she didn’t like it either.

Lizzie’s gaze lingered for a moment more before she clapped her hands together and drew everyone’s attention, “Thank you all for participating in Secret Santa this year.” She looked at the time, “The Christmas Eve dinner is starting soon, so let's all clean up here and then go eat.”

The group collectively picked up their presents and the remnants of opened gifts off the floor. None of them wanted to miss the Christmas Eve feast, so they all began to move in the direction of the dining hall.

Hope, however, hung back, and Josie noticed. She told Lizzie that she would catch up and stayed behind with Hope, whose face was wrought with worry.

“Hey, what’s up?” You could hear the concern in her voice.

“I’m sorry your gift wasn’t good.”

Josie’s face fell. This is why she hated opening gifts in front of other people, she always ended up disappointing them, and that was the last thing she wanted to do, especially with Hope. 

She grabbed her hand and said, “Thank you for the gift, Hope,” with a look in her eyes that she wished would say it all.

Hope relaxed into Josie’s touch and finally took the chance to explain it, “I got you a journal so you can write down all the things you don’t say."

The auburn haired girl stopped for a second before barreling into the rest of the explanation, "Look, Josie, I know that there’s so much going on inside your head, but you never say any of it. You keep all of your thoughts, comments, ideas, and feelings trapped in your mind. So, I got you a journal so you can write down all of the things that would never leave your head otherwise.”

A small _oh_ escaped Josie’s lips. 

That was the reaction Hope had been waiting for. She beamed, and unknowingly drew a little circle with her thumb on Josie’s hand, giving an _oh_ in response.

She swallowed hard, stuttering through her thoughts, “T-thank you so much, Hope. That is,” she stopped, not being able to put just how thoughtful this gift was into words. This was by far the best gift anyone had ever gotten her. 

So she tried again, but only came up with the same two words as the first time, “Thank you.”

Hope grinned and said, “You’re welcome.” She exhaled a breath, “I’m so glad you like it.”

“Of course I do.” She liked it even before she knew the thought behind it. She liked it just because it was from Hope.

Josie smiled again and looked into her eyes, only being broken from their trance when her sisters voice rang out, “Hey, Jo! You coming?”

Relenting to the voice, Josie called back, “Yeah, just a sec.” She returned back to Hope’s eyes and said quieter in a quieter voice, “Do you want to sit with me?”

“I wasn’t actually planning on going.”

“What? Come on, come eat.”

Hope couldn’t argue with the fact that she had to eat, so she gave in to those deep brown eyes with an, “Okay.”

With that, the two looked into each others eyes once again before hurrying to catch up with the group, but still hanging to the back.

Talking and giggling, the two were completely in their own little world.

Suddenly, Hope stopped, and Josie stopped too. She looked at her with a small amount of concern tucked into her eyes, and questioned “Hope?”

At the sound of her name coming from Josie’s voice, she looked at her with something unreadable dancing in her eyes, “Look up.”

Josie narrowed her eyes in confused before craning her neck to see the decoration hanging above their heads. She laughed and rolled her eyes, “Hope Mikaelson, you didn’t have to try so hard to get me to kiss you.”

Hope’s confidence dissipated as she said this, and, suddenly, Josie was the one with the confidence. It was so unlike her, but it was pumping through her blood with every pound of her heart.

She showed just how confident she was when she impulsively pressed her lips against Hope’s, somewhat forceful at first, but then she relaxed into it.

Somehow Hope regained a little bit of confidence in the first second, letting her hand find the back of Josie’s neck and head.

Josie’s hands instinctively cupped Hope’s cheeks as she kissed her again, only breaking away a moment later.

When they broke away, they were both high on something, but it wasn’t confidence anymore. This time it was each other.

They smiled in spite of themselves, and they weren’t sure which one smiled first, but each one thought it was the other, and chalked their own smile up to seeing theirs.

Josie cautiously slipped her hand into Hope’s and whispered, “We should probably catch up to the others before Lizzie sends a search party.”

Hope let her fingers fall between Josie’s. “I suppose,” she agreed, even though she really wanted to take advantage of the mistletoe above their heads again.

The two giggled and walked into the dining hall, still hand in hand. When they entered, Hope was amazed, "Wow. It looks like Harry Potter in here."

Josie marveled as well, "Thank the witches."

Of course she wouldn't take any credit, even if she was the witch elect for the council, meaning she helped plan and decorate for holidays and events.

The dining hall really was magnificent, though. Leave it to Josie to make sure every little detail was accounted for. Somehow she had made it feel cozy for Christmas.

They found their way over to the rest of the group and sat down together. It didn’t seem much like the group had noticed their absence, or if they did, they didn’t say anything about it.

It was just as well, Hope and Josie shrugged their secret off and found each others hands underneath the table again.

They didn’t remain a secret for long though, as Lizzie called them out. She caught sight of a look, and she knew her twin. It was clear that both of them had been crushing on the other for a while, but both were too oblivious to see it.

Hope and Josie froze under the gazes of the group as Lizzie exposed them. Their hands tensed together, but the group only laughed and collectively said, “We know.”

Hope stuttered out, “W-what?”

Lizzie offered up, “Please, Mikaelson, it’s so obvious.” The rest all nodded their heads and went back to eating, not even bothering to say another thing about it.

The two girls’ hearts were still pounding though, and they looked at each other with deer-in-the-headlights eyes. Hope had thought she had done such a great job at hiding it from everyone, and Josie, well, thought the same.

At the end of the dinner, Josie turned to Hope and asked, “Do you want to join me, my dad, and Lizzie in the common room tonight for hot chocolate. It’s kind of a tradition.”

If she was being honest, she did want to, but she also knew how important tradition was. Tradition was another form of sentimental. “I don’t want to intrude.”

“You wouldn’t be intruding. Besides, I’m inviting you. We just go and sit in the common room next to the fire and drink hot chocolate. My dad actually tried to invite you last year, but you turned him down.”

Now that she said it, Hope did vaguely remember Dr. Saltzman offering, but she gave some lame excuse and shut the door in his face, going back to her god awful, mind numbing Hallmark movies. Those movies used to be the only part of Christmas that she would acknowledge.

But now, thanks to Josie, and just the general Christmas feel in the air along with time, Hope was opening herself back up to what the brunette would call the most wonderful time of the year.

“Oh. Then, in that case, I would love to. Thank you.”

Josie didn’t want her to feel alone anymore, especially this time of the year. So she smiled and responded with, “Of course.”

Hope smiled back, and the smile reached her eyes. She knew what Josie was trying to do, and she appreciated the gesture. Truth be told, Josie was the only one she would have taken up on that offer.

A few hours later, Josie and Hope were curled up under a blanket on one couch in front of a roaring fire holding mugs of hot cocoa while Alaric and Lizzie were doing the same on the other couch.

Alaric took a sip, “I’m just glad the monsters let us have a day off. I don’t know what they would have thrown at us this time, but an Evil Santa really would have been a damper on the mood.”

The girls chuckled and Lizzie said, “Yeah, no kidding. Krampus totally could have ruined the festivities.”

The two girls on the other couch exchanged a look and nodded, they were glad nothing had gotten the chance to come between them.

The four talked more about Christmas, Alaric talking about the Christmas when the twins were three, “It was the first one that you guys really understood what was going on. There were presents stacked high under the tree for you guys to play with. Watching you try to unwrap them was the best part. You ended up basically only playing with the wrapping paper, but that was to be expected. It was still worth it.”

Hope wanted him to go on, to tell more of Josie’s Christmas stories, but instead he said, “That was probably my favorite Christmas.” Then he got a far away look in his eyes and yawned, “I think I’m gonna head to bed.”

She liked to hear other people's Christmas stories, their traditions and their memories. It was easier than admitting that she didn't have any of her own. If she listened long enough, their happy overtook her sad.

Alaric finished the rest of his drink, which he had spiked, and stood. He told each of his daughters goodnight before waving at Hope and taking his cup with him when he left.

Lizzie bent her legs underneath her, “So you two finally got together. Took you long enough.”

They weren’t official yet, neither girl had asked the other out, but that was only a technicality. Josie nodded and looked at Hope, “Was it really that obvious?”

“Yes.” Lizzie stated plainly, taking a sip out of her mug.

Hope chuckled, leave it to Lizzie to be blunt. She looked at Josie and quietly said, "Yeah, took us long enough."

Lizzie watched them in silence, looking back and forth between the two. They were getting far too close for comfort, and it didn't seem like they knew she was still there.

Before she had to witness a kiss, Lizzie loudly stood and said, "I'm going to bed." She threw her blanket on the couch, "I'll see you in the morning, don't stay up too late, Jo." Then she looked at Hope, "Don't keep her up too late."

She made her exit and the room was suddenly very quiet. Josie sighed and listened to the fire crackle and pop.

The fire was mesmerizing, so she grabbed Hope's hand and tugged her to the floor to sit in front of it.

They grabbed their mugs and Hope brought their blanket, wrapping it back around them when they got situated.

To their left was the Christmas tree, towering above them and lit up with lots of beautiful, colored lights. On the wall to the right was a window, and outside it had just begun to snow.

Hope watched the large flakes fall, "Looks like it's going to be a white Christmas."

"I love the snow." Josie looked too and sighed in content. Snow was peaceful and calming. It made everything just a little bit softer.

"Me too."

They fell into silence as they both stared into the fire. Besides the flame in front of them, the only other light was the tree. The rest of the room was dark and quiet.

Hope thought that the only thing more mesmerizing than the lights or the fire was Josie. There was just something about her, and it was nearly impossible for her to pry her eyes off of her.

She sighed and Josie leaned her head on Hope's shoulder, snuggling in closer. The fire danced before their eyes, almost begging them to space out, drawing them nearer and nearer to sleep.

Suddenly, the clock struck midnight.

Josie raised her head up and kissed Hope softly, pulling back to smile and softly say, "Merry Christmas."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for all of the comments and kudos, as always, they are much appreciated!


End file.
